Direction signal light



ov. 19, 1935. R. E McGEE I 2,021,319

DIRECTION SIGNAL LIGHT Filed May 51, 1930 REYRSAW \m' w; m 116; WA'A Q Patented ov. 19, 1935 Ni'i'ED STATES 3 Claims.

This invention relates to direction signals for motor vehicles to indicate to drivers of vehicles in the rear when the driver in advance is about to turn to the right or to the left.

An object of the invention is to provide a signal having the form of a double headed arrow of which the major portion of the shaft and either head may be illuminated at will, preferably by lights of different colors or by light passing through screens of different colors, whereby the relatively dangerous left turn may be indicated by an arrow illuminated by red light, and the less dangerous right turn may be indicated by an arrow illuminated by green light.

With this and other objects in view which will appear during the description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention shown in the annexed drawing, the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts and in details of construction hereinafter set forth and claimed, it being understood that modifications and changes be made within the true scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is an elevation of the lamp casing with the front cover plate removed, and with parts of the colored screens broken away; Fig. 2 is a horizontal longitudinal section through the upper portion of the casing showing the arrangement of the curved color screens; Fig. 3 is a transverse section on a reduced scale of the casing shown as if laid upon its backyand Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the cover plate.

The box-like casing is divided by partitions into five main compartments, of which the lower three reading from left to right are for a back-up signal having an uncolored, light-difiusing screen I, a tail light having a red color screen 2, and a stop light having an amber color screen 3. The two upper compartments are separated by a partition t having adjustable members 5 and 6 upon opposite sides of a cut-away passage l formed in the partition. The adjustment of members 5 and 6 may be made by any desired means known in the art, such as slots 5a, 6a., and screws 5b, 6?), shown in Fig. 3.

Lamps 8 and 9 are placed closely adjacent to the partition on opposite sides of the solid portion upon which the member 5 is adjustable. By this manner of mounting the lamps, the double ended arrow window opening ill formed within the front cover plate receives direct illumination from either lamp upon the head and half of the shaft opposite one compartment, while the remainder of the shaft portion is illuminated only by light which goes through the cut-away passage 1 into the other compartment. The adjustable members 5 and 6 regulate the size of the passage l to agree with the differences in location of the filaments in different lamps so that the point reached by 5 the light going through the passage may be sharply delimited. The effect of this method of illumination is to cause the amount of light received by the remote portion of the shaft of the arrow to diminish gradually, the head .at the re 10 mote end not having sufficient illumination to be distinguished as a head. Each lamp is adjacent to the curved central portion of the shaft of the .arrow and thus acts to cause the strongest illumination to fall upon the characteristic or distinc- 15 tive portion of the turn signal. The left hand compartment has a color screen I l which is preferably red, since a left turn is more dangerous to following traffic than is a right hand turn. The right hand compartment preferably has a green 20 color screen I2. In each instance, the screen lies between the lamp and the portions it illuminates, and to accomplish this result, the screens II and I2 are preferably curved as illustrated in Fig. 2, the material of the screen being of any suitable 25 material such as glass, celluloid, or other light transmitting substances.

It will be evident that colored globes upon the lamps may beused to obviate the necessity of providing colored screens. 30

The use of a curved arrow to indicate the fact that a turn is to be made is believed to provide an unmistakable signal.

I claim:

1. A direction signal light comprising a casing 35 having partitions defining a plurality of compartments, a cover plate having formed therein .a curved opening extending across two compartments, a lamp within each of said two compartments, the partition between the two compartments the said partition being interposed between each lamp and the end of the curved opening adjacent to the other lamp, and being cut away in part, and means for adjusting the size of the cut away portion, whereby each lamp may illuminate the adjacent central portion of the curved opening and the adjacent end by direct illumination in its own compartment, and may illuminate the remainder of the central portion of the curved opening by light passing through the cut away portion into the other compartment.

2. A direction signal comprising a casing, a cover plate for the casing having a curved opening formed therein to represent a double-headed 55 arrow, means within the casing providing sources of illumination for said curved opening of two colors, and an adjustable partition member between the two sources transverse to said curved opening and adapted to shield from each source the end of the curved opening remote from the source but permitting light from either source to illuminate the central portion of the curved opening, whereby one head and a major portion of the shaft of the curved arrow may be displayed in one color, and the other head and the major portion of the shaft of the curved arrow may be displayed in the other color selectively.

3. Signal apparatus comprising a casing having a cover at its forward side, a face plate in the said cover and having right and left hand pointers formed thereon, the pointers having a common stem portion, a lamp adjacent to each of said pointers, and partition means disposed transversely of said stem portion adjacent to the central point thereof adapted to shield each pointer from light rays that emanate from the lamp that is located adjacent to the other pointer.

RUPERT EMERSON MCGEE. 

